Piano-keyboard.



PATENTED MAY 19, 1908.

I. KUBA. PIANO KEYBOARD.

APPLIGATION nun SEPT. 5. 1907.

14 TTOH/VEYS FRANK KUBA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PIANO-KEYBOARD.

Application filed September 5, 1907.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 19, 1908.

Serial No. 391,4L7.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK KUBA, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Piano-Keyboards, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates more particularly to keyboards for pianos such as disclosed in my Patent No. 860,489, dated July 16, 1907.

The primary object of the invention is to provide simple and efiicient means to facilitate the playing of the piano, and more espe cially in playing semitone grace notes in octaves from the white to the black keys, and further playing arpeggios or chords in keys where the thumb and the small finger rest on the black keys, while the other fingers have to play on the white keys, thus avoiding the necessity for picking out the white keys slowly in the spaces between the black keys in the usual manner.

A further object of the invention is to provide simple and eflicient means which permits all the difficult scales to be played with the same fingering as the scale of C major and the most difficult music to be readily performed while the fingers assume natural positions, which can be used in all cases without the slightest difficulty, and which permits the keys to be operated as in the ordinary keyboard.

The invention will be hereinafter more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and will then be pointed out in the claims at the end of the description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view, illustrating one form of the invention as applied to a piano. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section, partly in elevation, showing a part of the mechanism or movement connected with the key. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view on a larger scale, of several of the keys. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan View; and Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 are detail perspective views, showing how the keys are cut away.

The keyboard 10 has white keys 11, and the usual black keys 12 arranged in the same relative position which they assume in the ordinary keyboard, and may be operatedmanually or otherwise in the usual way. The white keys 11 have the parts 13 in front of the black keys, and are recessed on either or both sides as at 141 for the black keys, the latter extending above the white keys as is usual. At the rear of the black keys and adjacent thereto is a part 15, which extends above the part 13 and raised somewhat above the upper surface of and is higher than the black keys 12, and said part 15 is cut away at either or both sides, as at 16, so that when said keys are de ressed they will not operate or engage the b ack keys.

The part 15 may be of any suitable shape and has its front portion rounded and formed integral with the key body. This part 15 'is of sufficient length to permit the fingers to readily engage the same for producing the proper tones, and as will be seen in Figs. 5 and 6, the said part is either L- shaped or T-shaped in cross-section according to the position of the white keys with respect to the black keys. The black keys have the usual width of fingering surfaces for a part of their length and are widened at 17 for the remainder of their length and are cut away at the inner edge thereof to fit close to the rounded edge of the part 15. This part 17 serves better to permit the fingers to rest on said keys during the rapid movement of the fingers from one set of keys to the other, and as the part 17 does not extend the entire length of the black keys, both the black and the white keys may be played as in the usual keyboard. Each key is properly pivoted and extends rearwardly within the in strument, and is connected with suitable mechanism 18 for producing the notes in the usual manner.

It will be seen that by means of the raised part 15, there will be no difficulty in operating the white keys while parts of the hand rest upon the black keys, while a forward sliding movement is necessary to produce certain effects with the ordinary form of key board. The new construction also 1naterially assists the performance of intricate music by players with broad fingers, which under the present arrangement is exceedingly difficult, and permits all the difficult scales to be played with the same fingering as the scale of C major.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A piano keyboard having a plurality of black keys provided with the usual width of fingering surfaces for a part only of their length and with widened fingering surfaces for the remainder of their length, and a plu rality of White keys each of Which has a raised part at the rear of and adjacent to the widened part of the black keys whereby the White keys may be fingered both in the rear and in front of said black keys and the fingers moved quickly from one to the other, said raised part of the White keys being higher than the black keys and the latter having; spaces between said keys to permit the White keys to be fingered between the black keys.

A piano keyboard having a plurality of black keys provided with the usual Width of fingering surfaces for a part only of their length and With widened. fingering surfaces for the remainder of their length said black keys being cut away at their inner edges, and a plurality of White keys each of which has a raised part at the rear of and adjacent to the widened part of the black keys whereby the White keys may be fingered both in the rear and in front of said black keys and the fingers moved quickly from one to the other,

said raised part of the White keys being rounded at their outer edges to lit the cut away part of the black keys and being higher than the black keys and the latter having spaces between said keys to permit the White keys to he fingered between the black keys.

This specification. signed and witnessed this 4th day of September A. l). 1907.

F RANK KUBA.

Witnesses I TURNER, H. L'INEHAN. 

